Once upon a time this guy built a wide road. He named it Broad Way. Today, numerous cities in the US have a Broadway that is home to the best culture in our country.

The idea for Broad Way wasn’t super special. But what happened after that has made all our lives more interesting. People saw that idea and built on it.

That means whatever “common” thing you’re building today could become a significant contribution to the world tomorrow.

Continue building your vision. Most days of idea work are almost painfully common – you’re out pulling up weeds, leveling some ground, measuring the width, digging out rocks, and occasionally talking to people about your idea.

You go through times when you think, “There’s nothing special about what I’m doing. Anyone could do this.” Except “anyone” isn’t. You are. And when you finish, certain people are going to see what you did and build on it.

But before they can see it, YOU have to put in the hard yards of preparing the way. That’s why it’s called vision. You see what isn’t as though it is. And pretty soon, other people will see what it is you built and create what isn’t.

It’s part of the magic of being in the human family – turning a tree into a forest everyone can enjoy. It’s a group of people who morph Broad Way into Broadway.

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.
_Proverbs 23:4

Cars regularly last more than 150,000 miles and give thousands of hours of service.

Compare this to a top fuel dragster (the really long drag cars). The motors in these dragsters produce nearly 8,000 horsepower and the engines are rebuilt after every single 4-second run the car makes. If they weren’t, they’d blow up (which they sometimes do) within about 5 passes. That’s approximately 1.25 miles of distance and less than 20 seconds of racing for those 5 passes.

Some of us are pushing ourselves so hard in our jobs and in life that stuff is breaking inside us. And it’s not worth it. We treat ourselves like we’re high performance dragsters capable of maximum output for 18 hours a day every day with little else but a mocha, some sad morsels of food, and a catnap we call a night of sleep.

Take it easy. We each have certain capabilities and they’re different from other peoples’. Don’t force yourself to match someone else’s output. You’re you. They’re them. Don’t push yourself to the brink of breakdown.

If we don’t rebuild ourselves every day with meaningful recreation and rest and relationships, we’ll flame out. If we ever hope to love our neighbors better, we MUST start by loving ourselves better.

There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.
_Ecclesiastes 1:11

For hundreds and thousands of years, generations of human beings have walked on and left this earth. It’s probably fair to say 99.9999% of them are completely forgotten. Many of us don’t know the names of our great-grandparents, much less the story of their lives. We’ve forgotten our own families less than 40 years after they’ve died.

But we can’t say they might as well have never lived.

Collectively, every previous generation, has brought us to the place we are today. Their thinking and toiling and parenting have made the world what it is now. We have them to thank for what is around us. If we only knew who they were! So the question for us may not be “how will you be remembered?” Because, in all likelihood, we won’t be. The question is: how will we be felt?  When a 24-year old in the year 2093 marvels at the world around him on a Saturday night at 1am, it will be because of us. And he won’t know who to thank either.

Life is short. But there’s plenty of time to build our lives and this world into something that’ll blow that kid away. Everyone wants to live in a kingdom of good. That’s where our hands should be busy.

Adult Questions
How did the movie theater door get propped open? Why were assault rifles sold to a madman? Where was God in Aurora? Our questions move from the specific to the general to the ultimate.

Where is God when our own life falls apart? Like a toddler, we ask questions about the world as we know it but too infrequently about the world outside. Earlier this week on Twitter, someone wrote this:

[We think we're unique]…as if [this issue of 'why'] was only a relevant question in white, American suburbs. Where is God in Afghanistan? Where is God in Gaza? Where is God in Syria? Where is God, indeed?

We don’t get where he is sometimes. He seems to be gone or not to care. A billion people in deep suffering because of poverty? Some of them starve to death. Blame satan. Blame rich people. Blame apathy. Blame sin. Blame the rain. But at the end of the day, if God is all-powerful, he could stop it, but he doesn’t. That’s sad. Period. For all the good suffering can do, it too often ends in unredeemed, crushing, final disappointment (at least as far as a human can tell).

Little kids want to know where babies come from. They’re not ready to hear. Maybe we’re not either. Maybe we’re really toddlers in God’s eyes and we can’t understand these things just yet.

Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
_Job 38:35

We barely know how to tie our shoes.

If you dare to speak about your doubts, they’re too often met with negative vibes from listeners – by direct opposition or discomfort or silence. It’s rare that someone walks alongside us through the difficulty. So our internal troubles are compounded with external troubles. It’s ok.

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
_Acts 14:22

This isn’t easy. It’s not supposed to be. Easy stuff is usually cheap anyway.

The MORAL journey is supposed to be a straight path where we don’t deviate to the right or left, but live good, righteous lives. That’s the ideal. But no one ever said having and keeping FAITH would be simple and straight. Heroes don’t get to be heroes by doing common things. It’s by doing and enduring the uncommon. Nobody but God may know what you’re trying to overcome. Then again, he may be the only one in your life challenging you. What we see as negative in the moment, he may bring as a gift. But it takes the moment passing before we enter the kingdom.

The speech he gave, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” closes with a prophetic, impassioned, very personal outpouring. Somehow, it seemed he knew death was near.

We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.

And I don’t mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I’m happy tonight.

I’m not worried about anything.

I’m not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
_Martin Luther King, Jr – I’ve Been to the Mountaintop – April 3, 1968

These words, incredible on their own, are even weightier than they seem. MLK was making a direct allusion to Deuteronomy 34.

Brothers
In the final chapters of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are nearing the Promised Land. Moses has led them out of Egypt and through 40 years of living in the desert. All of a sudden, God breaks in with news.

The Lord told Moses, ‘Go up…to Mount Nebo…and view [the Promised Land]…the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people…you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.’
_Deuteronomy 32:48-52

This is what MLK meant when he said that he’d been to the mountaintop and seen the Promised Land. And why he said he wasn’t concerned with longevity. And why he said he may not get to the Promised Land with everyone else. He instinctively knew he was the Moses of the Civil Rights movement.

The Finish Line
The poetic beauty of all this is only equaled by what seems like unjust sadness. What a disappointment for Moses and MLK  not to enter the destination they labored for! They only saw it from a distance. It’s sad to us, in part, because we have a feeling of where their finish line should have been – and it’s inside the Promised Land. Anything short of that line seems wrong and makes us sad. And it IS sad, but only a little. They made it 99% of the way! MLK didn’t care about dying. Moses didn’t protest in Deuteronomy. They both knew they’d lived their lives and played their roles with great excellence. They knew that, above everything else, they were NOT leaders. Yes, they were leaders of their generation, but that isn’t how they understood themselves.

MLK put it this way in his speech: “I just want to do God’s will.” And in Deuteronomy 34:5, it says, “Moses, servant of the Lord died there in Moab.” They understood themselves to be, firstly, servants of God. Wherever that took them and however far they were supposed to go was, ultimately, up to God.

Who are you serving in the days of your life? Get it right and the fear of death will shrink before you. Get it right and the angst about wasting your life will go away. Serve God – God alone.

[M]ost of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.
_Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

Our lives have bandwidth – just like our internet connections. There’s only so much space and so much time we can devote to things. Is debating each and every daily issue how you want to invest your life? For some, perhaps you, the answer is yes. For most of us, it should be no.

As if our emotions were attached to a rope, the media jerks us all over the place in every 24-hour news cycle, trying to inflame passion and, where possible, controversy. After tragedies these days, not even a single hour is allowed for pure mourning. We’re immediately confronted with accusations, deconstructions, and questions of re-writing the entire United States Constitution. As Postman says, by and large, none of the energy you and I spend on these things will translate into anything we can actually act on.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.
_Proverbs 19:17

Tragic events deserve to be mourned and briefly discussed. But don’t let the media stir you into a frenzy. Don’t stir others into a frenzy. We’ve been programmed this way for too long. Show restraint. Know where the line of “enough” is. Because there are a million tragedies that happen all over this world every day you CAN do something about. Talk about those. Find ways to take action. Those are problems you can help solve.

There’s no scorecard for winning arguments but there IS one for our good deeds.

Someone right now, maybe you, is thinking, “That’s a bullcrap choice. How about both in the same person? Celebrities can be really kind.” And you’re right.

For people who believe God exists, we fall along a spectrum. On the far left, God is viewed as far off, distant. On the far right, God is ultra-close. Both are true.

I live in a high and holy place,
but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit…
_Isaiah 57:15

Sad times in our lives can help us see God isn’t just removed in a high and holy place. When we first become lowly in spirit God can seem ESPECIALLY far away which compounds our hurt – not only is our life a mess but we feel God abandoned us.

“Where are you?” we sometimes whisper to the air – a question we may not have wondered for days, weeks, or months.

God is near. We may just not know it or perceive it. A child who’s afraid of needles goes to the doctor and is completely inconsolable – not even their mom can comfort them. The child tries to shake her from touching them. It appears they want to do it all alone, angry with mom for subjecting them to hurt. She’s right there ready to comfort them. The son or daughter just needs to calm their spirit. God is right there too.

Whisper “help me” to God the next time you’re feeling under the pile and then sit in the silence. Notice how your heart feels. Sometimes there’s a weight to it that almost seems to say, “I know. It’s alright.” God is close to the brokenhearted even though the pain may persist.

Someone says something you don’t agree with? Digitally punch them in the face. Why let the trolls on YouTube have all the fun?

Here are a few handy guidelines. Start and perpetuate controversy. Get offended easily. Unfairly accuse people of saying things they never said. Reject being charitable. Hold as many people in contempt as you possibly can – for as many reasons as you can. Write a blog and tweet about it so you bring the maximum number of people into the carnival. Give generous portions of your disgust and “concern.” Avoid understanding and compassion. These are all things God is especially pleased with. Speak your mind every single time you have something to say. Self-control is only for boring losers.

The tongue…is a fire… It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire…
_James 3:6

Now. For real. Choose your words. Don’t be a bystander to your heart’s unchecked rage.

We bring this “lack of fast” frustration into our work and family life. We can become overwhelmed and disillusioned at work because a project takes a long time. We grow dispirited at home because a spouse or child isn’t changing quickly. It seems like a big mountain is blocking us and we’re not making any progress. But we are.

Big puzzles aren’t solved overnight. There are thousands of steps to making our goals real. It takes about 2,000 steps just to walk a mile. Every single one is common. There’s little special about any individual one (though walking itself is a miracle). You just commit to the next step and eventually you’ve covered 5,260 feet – a mile.

In our lives, almost everything worthwhile happens slower than we wish. We’re talking months and years, not minutes and days. If we expect that, our spirits can adjust to the reality instead of blindly and irrationally demanding it happen fast. Go easy on yourself and brace your heart. These things take time.